LUCKEY – Wildlife officials are looking into a second reported bear sighting in northeastern Wood County.

This sighting, made in the 23000 block of Pemberville Road, near Luckey, was near the same area as one
reported to the Wood County Sheriff’s Office on Monday, which was in a woods at Bradner Road and Ottawa
Road in Troy Township.
In the latest sighting, which actually predated the first, a resident indicated that on Friday she saw
what was described as a "small, possibly baby bear," black or brown in color, running through
a 10-acre woods on her property.
John Windau, with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, said the woman initially dismissed the sighting until
she read a media report about Monday’s bear sighting, and then reported it to authorities. The matter
was referred to the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
Windau said that a Division of Wildlife Officer was to be dispatched to the area to investigate.
The original bear sighting was made to the sheriff’s office on Monday at 11:30 a.m. after another woman
said she saw a black bear hiding in a woods in the area of Bradner Road and Ottawa Road.
A deputy and a Wildlife officer sent to check out the scene did not find the animal; that sighting has
been labeled as unconfirmed.
In an interview earlier this week, Windau indicated that Northwest Ohio is "not prime bear
habitat," as the animals prefer heavily-wooded environs. However "it’s not unusual for us to
occasionally have one wander through."
Black bears have been sighted in Southern Michigan in recent years and, most recently in Ohio, another
unconfirmed sighting was made in Seneca County in 2012. Reports dating further back have come from
Williams and Fulton counties.